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It is a close encounter of the official kind. A former RAF officer has
claimed that UFOs are real and may have invaded UK airspace, branding
official resistance to such theories as "stupid and arrogant".

Wing Commander Alan Turner MBE was sworn to secrecy after he tracked a
series of unidentified objects soaring over southern England at
incredible speeds.

But now the airman, who was honoured by the Queen for his years of
distinguished service, has broken his silence and spoken publicly for
the first time about his extraordinary experience.

Turner, 64, a former head of air traffic control at RAF Lossiemouth,
insists it is "stupid and arrogant" to rule out the existence of
extra-terrestrials and is open to the suggestion that he witnessed
craft from another world.

But the Ministry of Defence stressed last night there were "realistic
explanations" for such reports.

The incident, which has baffled and haunted Turner for decades, took
place at RAF Sopley on the south-west coast of England in the summer of
1971.

At the time he was Duty Military Supervisor and had the responsibility
of monitoring the skies on radar screens for potential Soviet
incursions.

On the day in question, Turner and his 13 colleagues were alarmed by a
sudden and unexpected development.

He said: "I can clearly remember people shouting: 'What the hell is
that?' I got to a console and people were loudly telling me to look to
the east of Salisbury Plain.

"Twenty miles east of the eastern extremity was a series of returns, or
radar blips, which were appearing in that position. There were five of
them initially. Then six and then seven all following the same track.

"They were tracking south-east, each exactly six to seven miles apart
and moving at exactly the same speed. At about 40 miles from the point
they appeared on radar, they disappeared, to be followed almost
immediately by a replacement at the point of origin.

"The objects were about 3,000ft above ground level when they first
appeared and climbed so rapidly that, by the time they disappeared from
radar they were in excess of 60,000ft.

"To climb to such a height in only 40 miles was beyond the ability of
almost any fighter aircraft at that time."

In a bid to solve the mystery Turner diverted an RAF Canberra jet,
which was returning from West Germany, to intercept the intruders.

"When the pilot got within a mile or so of one particular blip, he
reported, in a very agitated voice, that his radar had picked up
something on his port side that was 'climbing like the clappers'.
Neither the pilot nor his navigator made any visual contact with
whatever it was."

Within days, Turner was summoned into the Squadron Leader's office and
questioned by two men, who wore civilian clothes and were not
identified, about the incident.

"I, along with all the others who were in the room on that day, were
told in no uncertain terms not to relate what we had seen until cleared
to do so."

Turner, who was awarded the MBE in 1984 and retired from the force in
1995, has been assured that there were no training operations,
classified or otherwise, going on at the time and there were no weather
balloons or probes in the area.

"I have no idea what they were, but I certainly wouldn't rule out the
possibility that they were UFOs. There is certainly a chance that we
have been visited by extra-terrestrials," he said. "It is terribly
arrogant and silly to think that we are alone in the universe."

He feels the time is right to end his silence and has accepted an
invitation to be the keynote speaker at an international UFO conference
in Pontefract, Yorkshire, next month.

"I have spoken to three ex-Air Force mates, who held senior positions,
and they have seen similar things, but did not report them as they felt
their personal integrity would be questioned. That is why I kept quiet
for so long, but I know what I saw."

More responses to
sightings of 'orange lights' UFOs near Louth, UK have been pouring into
the Leader – with some wondering if recent UFO activity is connected to
the Large Hadron Collider experiment in Geneva.

A man called Anthony from Wales emailed a similar
account of what he saw: "I was having a cigarette outside my front door
on Saturday at around 9pm and I looked over the roof tops and saw two
orange-red glowing lights coming from over the hill where I live.

"I called my wife and daughter to come and have a
look, then a third light followed the other two. My wife phoned her
father who lives not far away and he saw them too. I then went to get
my camera but by the time I got it out the lights just vanished. Not
knowing what they were I decided to search the net to see if any one
has seen the same as us and I came across your picture which is exactly
what we saw.

"We live in a little village in Swansea and after 47
years of looking up at night this is the first UFO I have ever seen."

He added: "Could it be something to do with that
experiment they are doing under ground in Geneva letting out pockets of
energy or something?"

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's
largest and most powerful particle accelerator, intended to smash
protons together in the hope of learning more about the Big Bang
theory. It was turned on to much international press interest last week
despite some scientists calling for the experiment to be stopped, in
fear it could lead to the formation of mini black holes, which could
expand and swallow the Earth.

Rachel Rijsdijk emailing from The Netherlands said
she also saw similar orange lights last Saturday: "On Saturday night a
week ago I was driving on the highway, past a city called Eindhoven,
and I saw three orange round lights high in the sky. They were not
moving, but hanging in a triangle form."

Reg Lambert from Rugby emailed to tell us about his
own recent experience: "I and three others saw an orange light
travelling south-west to north-east over Rugby at about 8pm.

"It was travelling quite fast and was above the
height of a few clouds around at an estimated height of 5000ft. A few
minutes after disappearing from view it reappeared travelling in the
opposite direction."

He added: "There was no flicker or variation, or
colour change, and it was in a straight line."

David Hinde from North Yorkshire is adament such
sightings are not sky lanterns after witnessing some strange lights in
the sky near his home: "I have seen the orange/red spheres in the skies
above Speeton, moving in ways no conventional aircraft move - diagonal,
vertical and horizontal movements, with no sound and no vapour trails -
definitely not sky lanterns."

Theorising on where the UFOs came from, he concluded:
"I am personally of the opinion that these objects are not of this
world and believe that there is a continued cover up."

Readers of Inexplicata have become familiar over the years with the
reports provided by Raul Oscar Chaves, one of Argentina’s most
prominent researchers of cattle mutilations and UFO activity. He took
time from his busy schedule this week to answer a few questions
regarding the current wave of animal mutilations occurring in his
country.

What is Ciufoslapampa and how did it come about?

This organization, whose visible heads are Rosa Ester Urban and Raul
Oscar Chaves, was created in 2002 immediately following the
manifestation of the cattle mutilation phenomenon in Argentina,
particularly in La Pampa, playing a role in the research of early cases
at the provincial level and in the province of Buenos Aires. The reason
for this was the need to know the details of the phenomenon in its
various manifestations, that is to say, its implications and even its
consequences from the standpoint of research.

Are animal mutilations common in your area?

They were and are customary. Although they have decreased at the
present time, having reached their peak in the year 2002, when over
1500 cases of large cattle mutilation were reported. Lesser species
were also mutilated, such as rabbits, chickens, cats, dogs, pigs, wild
boar, deer, foxes, sheep, etc. Cases are being reported at this time,
although the number is not significant in this province, and they
involve beef cattle and pigs. There is a certain concern among
cattlemen regarding the particular characteristics displayed by the
phenomenon this time.

Is there any connection between mutilations and UFOs?

In cases that have been detected since 2002, finding mutilated
carcasses invariably followed sightings of strange lights, particularly
in rural areas. The emerging theory indicates the intervention of other
Intelligences operating over highly specific sectors or areas.
Veterinarians and former members of the School of Veterinary Medicine
of La Pampa were unable to find answers to the following during their
research into the phenomenon:

· The precision and neatness of the incisions, both under cold
and hot conditions, after having performed lab tests using electric
scalpels and thermocauterizers, without being able to come “even close”
to results similar to the ones obtained in mutilations. This was
evidence of the use of unknown technologies and procedures, according
to experts.
· The nearly total absence of blood in some cases, with the
flesh itself being found bloodless.
· The absence of corneas, in certain cases.
· The absence of fetuses or neonates in cases of pregnancy
established by palpation and in the final months of gestation, without
any deterioration to the birth canal.
· Absence of muscular mass in unopened bodies, with minor
incisions (jawline only) attesting to the absence of Longinis Dorsis in
a 40 cm tract, with signs of exposure to microwave radiation.
· Preservation of mutilated carcasses for up to 20 days under
death conditions occurring within 24 hours.
· Changes in the coloration and consistency of pastureland in
areas adjacent to the animal, attesting that even microfauna had been
affected, detection of very high temperatures or some type of radiation
in the soil, which acquires a notorious compacting and consistency.
· Detection of a crystalline, viscous, gelatinous element on the
animal that changed to the liquid state, followed by crystallization
and subsequent disappearance, presumably of exogenous or unknown origin
and playing a role in the mutilations.
· Detection of a bluish-green pathogen inside various parts of
the mutilated bodies, without any origin being established.

It was also established that the flesh of a mutilated animal exposed to
the open air was preserved up to some 40 days with evidence of a slight
fetid odor, with only some flies present. The work of these experts was
highly important despite the absence of results from a rational
standpoint and given the lack of adequate technology for research of
this nature.

What is the popular opinion about this phenomenon?

Although the most critical and vivid stage is behind us (2002-2003),
which left a powerful impression on public opinion, the uncertainty is
experienced by rural livestock farmers, especially those who had
significant losses (12-15 animals) and are trying to glean more details
about the phenomenon’s manifestation in this instance.

Many thanks, Raul. We look forward to more reports on this disturbing
phenomenon.

It might have been 37 years
ago, but Lou Zhongrong still clearly remembers the day he first saw an
unidentified flying object - a UFO.

"I witnessed a UFO incident with my own eyes in Hubei Province in
1971," says Lou, who was then serving in the national air force near
Laohekou City in Hubei at the time.

While he was watching an outdoor movie, a spiral-shaped shiny object
moving in the sky caught his eyes.

"It moved from south to north for about one minute then suddenly
disappeared," recalls Lou. "I know planes. The flight profile of the
shiny object was definitely not a plane. And it was not an illusion
because many of my comrades-in-arms saw it too."

Witnesses in other nearby provinces also reported seeing the same
strange phenomenon.

So what was the shiny object? Lou could not figure it out and neither
could all the other witnesses and scientists at the time. Most of them
let the incident pass, but not Lou. It was the beginning of an
obsession leading him to become one of the earliest amateurs in
Shanghai devoted to UFO research.

Today, 59-year-old Lou is deputy director of the Shanghai UFO Research
Center, and his quest continues to learn the truth.

And he is not alone. Many people the world over are curious about
whether humans are the smartest, most advanced creatures in the
universe. Or, given the infinite size of the universe, if there are
other smarter beings out there.

Many believe not only there are "aliens" but that those beings must be
extremely advanced if the objects seen in the sky are anything to go by.

UFOs have been puzzling people worldwide for centuries and China is no
exception.

Records thousands of years old refer to "flying carriages," "flame
dragons" or "flaming balls." The words appeared in ancient Chinese
books such as "Zhuang Zi," a philosophy book on Taoism written in about
300 BC by Chuang-tze "Shan Hai Jing" ("Classic of the Mountains and
Seas"), a book on ancient Chinese geography before the Qin Dynasty
(221-206 BC) and "Meng Xi Bi Tan" ("Dream Pool Essays")written by Shen
Kuo in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

However, in spite of such references, modern research into UFO
sightings in China did not start in earnest until the late 1970s. When
Lou retired from the military and started working at the Shanghai
Airplane Institute, he also started his own UFO research. His access to
abundant aeronautical information certainly aided his work.

He quickly made friends with other people also interested in UFOs and
in 1979 a professor from Shanghai Jiao Tong University organized a
group to hold regular seminars for the amateurs to discuss or debate
the subject.

That group was the precursor to the Shanghai UFO Research Center. Lou's
friend and colleague, Wu Jialu, joined the group on Lou's
recommendation and the 66-year-old Wu has served as director of the
center since his retirement.

Many people mistake UFO research as a search for aliens like ET of
Hollywood fame, but that's not true, says Wu.

"UFO actually refers to a flying phenomenon that cannot be explained in
a scientific way yet," says Wu. "It is not necessarily about aliens
visiting Earth."

He says that although he also believes there might be creatures as
smart as or even smarter than humans in the universe, as Earth is just
one planet in the universe, no evidence has ever been found to prove
other life exists.

"I can understand people's passion about finding other creatures in the
universe, but it is not the goal of our research," says Wu.

Since its foundation, the research center has aimed to find reasonable
explanations for various UFO incidents through a scientific approach.

Members keep alert for any reports on UFO sightings in China and try to
analyze each phenomenon either individually or in seminars. They
exchange ideas either by e-mail or in face-to-face discussion searching
for the most reasonable explanation.

Lou says that of all the research in recent years, apart from 5 percent
of fake reports, more than 90 percent of the reported UFO incidents can
be explained as optical phenomena - light reflecting off a kite or a
plane or an aberration in the printing of a photograph, for example.

A UFO sighting in Chongqing in June, for example, has been proven to be
a virtual image like a mirage.

Shanghai, however, has quite a UFO track record with four "big
incidents" on record in 1987, 1990, 1991 and 1999.

In each case the incidents were witnessed by many people suggesting
whatever they saw was flying very high. And in each case the objects
flew in patterns not possible for any plane or kite.

Wu witnessed the incident in 1999 which lasted about 10 minutes.

Though their achievements have been recognized by many people and many
witnesses of alleged UFOs contact them for help, the research center
still struggles financially as UFO research is still out of the
mainstream of science in China.

This lack of money means members have to devote part of their salaries
to the center. Lack of new members is another problem. At the moment
there are only about 30 members and most are over 50 years old.

Wu says he found many young people were interested in UFO phenomenon
when he gave lectures at universities, but sadly few choose to get
involved in the non-mainstream program.

Lou says the center has successfully invited some well-known
astronomers to become members to help boost the professional image of
the center, but he agreed the participation of young people would help.

"They are passionate, quick thinking, broad-minded with abundant
information channels. They will inject new blood to the research
program," says Lou.

Chen Xiaoyu, a 34-year-old bank staffer, is one of the younger members
of the center in charge of the primary filter of UFO reports.

"I'm no expert in astronomy or aircraft. Yet my psychology course at
college helps the research," says Chen.

According to Chen, a clear and reliable witness report is the
fundamental basic for UFO research.

So often witnesses unintentionally provide incorrect information. Take
the famous UFO "sighting" at Duxi Forest Farm in Guizhou Province in
1994 for example.

There were various versions from witnesses about how long the
phenomenon, ranging from five minutes to 30 minutes. A psychologist on
the spot asked every witness to close his or her eyes and review the
whole process in their mind and say "stop" when it finished.

The simple test showed that even the longest review process took no
more than 20 seconds. The witnesses did not lie but their senses
deceived them.

"UFO research is not as simple as solving an astronomy or flying
problem. It involves many aspects such as psychology and
picture-editing by computer," says Chen. "Anyone can participate in the
research from his or her angle."

Shanghai's 'Big Four' UFO events

1. August 27, 1987, 7:55-7:58pm
Witnesses: Thousands of people in Shanghai and Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu,
Zhejiang, Fujian and Taiwan provinces
Shape: Spiral
Color: Silver in center, orange at edge
Brightness: Brighter than stars, not as bright as the moon
Direction: From southwest to southeast
Height: 2,000-10,000 meters

Witness report: According to the witnesses, in the process of its
moving from southwest to southeast, the shiny object descended slowly
at first and suddenly jumped high and disappeared.

An air force pilot also witnessed the object. He said it did not affect
operation of his plane and it flew about 3 to 4 kilometers above the
ground and was many times faster than his jet.

Mystery: Its flight path was against the principle of normal dynamics.
It flew faster than a plane but slower than a meteor. No man-made
rockets can match that speed and shape.

2. October 31, 1990, 5-5:15pm
Witnesses: Thousands of people in Shanghai, mainly in the west and
north including Jiading and Songjiang districts.
Shape: "U", "fish" or "shuttle"
Color: White head and orange edge
Brightness: Brighter than stars
Direction: From south to northwest
Height: About 2,000 meters

Witness report: People in different regions reported the shiny object
to be different shapes, some saying like a "U," some like a "fish" and
some like a "shuttle." Wang Guowei, a teacher in Putuo District,
recorded clear video footage of a flying "U" while Baosteel TV Station
in Baoshan District recorded witness' words about a flying "fish."

According to the video and witness reports, the object descended slowly
then disappeared.

Mystery: "U", "fish" and "shuttle" shapes were witnessed at the same
time by people in different regions. It flew at an average speed and
maintained the same brightness until it disappeared.

3. March 18, 1991, 6:03-6:28pm
Witnesses: Thousands of people in Shanghai, mainly in the west, and
Jiangsu Province.
Shape: "Fish," "shuttle" and column (witness report from the ground)
Color: White head and orange rail
Brightness: As bright as a comet
Direction: From southwest to northeast at first, then from southeast to
northwest
Height: About 3,000 meters

Witness report: According to the record of conversation between the
control tower of Hongqiao International Airport and crew of Flight 3665
who witnessed the incident, the UFO flew northeast then changed
direction, height and speed several times. The UFO was red at first and
turned black in the process. The black object split into two parts ?? a
round head and a rectangle tail, and merged together again as a red
ball before it disappeared.

Mystery: The UFO changed speed and height quickly several times and
easily moved forwards and backwards which cannot be done by a plane.

4. December 9, 1999, 4:30-5:05pm
Witnesses: Thousands of people in Shanghai
Shape: "V," transverse "V" or a vertical bar
Color: Orange, or white head and orange tail
Brightness: Brighter than stars
Height: Less than 20,000 meters

Witness report: The UFO flew very slowly for about 10 minutes, at about
4 kilometers per minute, and it also remained still at one point. Some
witness with high-power telescope said that they saw the UFO made a
right-angle direction change.

Mystery: The object flew at a very low speed and even kept still in the
sky which cannot be done by plane.

Recent China UFO incidents

November 30, 1994
Where: Duxi Forest Farm in Guizhou Province
Witnesses saw a strong light in the sky and heard rumbling like a train
moving. A 3-kilometer-long stretch of trees were all broken at the same
height.

June 26, 1995
Where: Fuxin City in Liaoning Province and four counties in the west of
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Twelve witnesses in Fuxin reported a UFO with a nebulous aureole as big
as a wash basin moving in the sky. Witnesses in four counties of
Guangxi saw a 2-meter-in-diameter UFO in the sky the same day.

October 4, 1995
Where: Northeast of China
Pilots of four airplanes flying in northeastern China saw a white oval
UFO at the same location in the sky. Some said that the white UFO
turned green later, some said it turned red while others said yellow.

August 25, 1996
Where: Xiamen, Fujian Province
Witnesses saw two cricoid luminatary UFOs appear above them in Xiamen.
A sailor took video of the whole incident.

Date: October 8, 1996
Where: Shijiazhuang Airport in Hebei Province
A Boeing 757 airliner was hit by unidentified objects on its way from
Beijing to Wuhan in Hebei Province. The plane returned to Beijing and
landed safely.

Date: December 23, 1997
Where: Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
Witnesses saw a dish-like shiny object moving in the sky from Jinan
University to the wu shan' (five hills) area for almost an hour before
it disappeared.

Date: June 30, 2002
Where: Chongqing
An air force pilot in Chongqing saw an object with yellow lights flying
in the same direction beside him at about 10pm. The object kept flying
parallel even after he changed direction. Fifteen minutes later all
officers and soldiers on the ground saw the whole airport suddenly lit
from above. The episode lasted about eight minutes.

Pseudoskeptics and debunkers are usually quick to smirk and scoff at
reports that spirits wear clothes. Indeed, it even exceeds the boggle
threshold of many who believe in a spirit
world.

"When the soul leaves the body it is at the first moment quite
unclothed as at birth," Julia Ames communicated to William T. Stead,
the prominent British journalist and automatist who went down with the
Titanic, after her physical death. "I awoke standing by my
dead body, thinking I was still alive and in my ordinary physical
frame. It was only when I saw the corpse in the bed that I knew that
something had happened. When the thought of nakedness crosses the
spirit there comes the clothing which you need. The idea with us
is creative. We think, and the thing is. I do not remember
putting on any garments. There is just the sense of need, and the
need is supplied."

Julia went on to say that once the spirit has fully awakened and
adapted to the new environment, it has the ability to make itself
appear in different ways, e.g., to appear as a child to someone who
knew the spirit, when in the flesh, only as a child. "We have no
need to do so for our own purposes, but when a newcomer arrives, or
when we have to manifest ourselves to you who are still in the body,
then we need to use this thought-creation, and body forth the visual
tangible appearances with which you are familiar."

In effect, Julia said what many other spirits have communicated: that
they project an image of themselves as they remember having looked in
the flesh to the newcomer on that side as well as to the person still
in the earthly life so that they are recognized.

Allan Kardec, the pioneering French investigator, asked a spirit if any
of them have wings. "Spirits have not wings," the reply
came. "They do not need them; for, they can, as spirits transport
themselves everywhere. They appear according to the way in which
they desire to affect the person to whom they show themselves. Some
appear in ordinary costume, others enveloped in draperies; some with
wings as attributes of the category of spirits they represent."
However, the spirit added that many spirits are unenlightened and do
not really understand the process. For them, it is more
instinctive.

The communicating spirit went on to say that although the spirit has no
corporeal infirmity, he might show himself disabled, lame, humpbacked,
wounded, or with scars, whatever necessary for the incarnate person to
recognize him. The spirit also said that spirits can make
ethereal matter tangible to the touch, if necessary.

A spirit calling himself Johannes communicated through medium Hester
Travers-Smith to H. Dennis Bradley. "Now you ask me about clothes
and appearance... Every soul has its own form. It has formed
itself during the earth life, and it comes to us as it makes
itself. We seem to each other to be men and women as you are; and
as to our garments, we do wear garments which convey the same
impression as yours. There are merely veils for the mental part,
something that gives clothing and appearance to the mental form; but
you need not believe that when you pass on you live so differently as
you expect. These garments are not made in the market as yours
are; the really proceed largely from the idea of the individual.
They help to demonstrate the mind as yours do."

Rev. C. Drayton Thomas, a psychical researcher as well as a
Wesleyan minister, communicated with his deceased sister Etta through
the mediumship of Gladys Osborne Leonard, a renowned trance-voice
medium. At one of the sittings, Thomas asked Etta if clothing are
simply replicas of those used when on earth or if spirits produce them
entirely new. Etta replied: "In one sense the answer to your
question must be ‘both ways.' Let me use as illustration the fact
that on earth an old garment can be unpicked and remade into an
apparently new one. Now, our thought with regard to an object we
have appreciated is so strong that it provides the pattern for a
duplicate here. But the actual garment is reproduced by processes
unique to this sphere. Thought plays a very important part in
manufacturing here, but ours is not entirely a mental world. We
can make things by other processes than thought, if we choose to do
so..."

At a different sitting, Thomas was told that he often visits with
deceased relatives when he is sleeping. His deceased father told
him that he could see Drayton's soul leaving the body from his solar
plexus during sleep, although at death it would leave from the head. He
would watch the soul come out and form a sort of clothing for
itself. "That is because of one's intuitive sense of the need of
clothing, the soul naturally seeks to clothe its body (i..e, the
spiritual or psychic body)," it was explained.

Communicating through the hand of Elsa Barker, a renowned automatist of
the early 20th Century, David Patterson Hatch, a lawyer and judge when
"alive," said it is easy to get the clothes one wants after
passing. "I do not know how I became possessed of the garments
which I wore on coming out, but when I began to take notice of such
things I found myself dressed as usual. I am not yet sure whether
I brought my clothes with me."

Hatch said that after he had been on that side a short time, he
encountered a woman dressed in a Greek costume. He asked her
where got it. "Why, first I made a pattern in my mind, and then
the thing became a garment," she replied. Hatch then
decided to see if he could make a Roman toga for himself, "but for the
life of me I could not remember what a Roman toga looked like."

Similarly, a spirit once told Dr. Charles Richet, the 1913 Nobel Prize
winner in medicine, that he could not materialize and show himself
because he could not remember what he looked like when alive.

The same principle of being able to visualize oneself in the flesh
seems to apply to psychic photography. When a mother asked her
discarnate son to explain just how he was able to appear on a
photograph, he responded: "I went home and looked at all my
pictures, especially the one in the living room, as I like that best of
all. I tried to fix the image of that picture in my mind so that
I might be able to impress it upon the ectoplasm." The boy went
on to say that he followed his mother into the room where she was being
photographed and while the photographer was preparing to snap the
picture he practiced a hit. "Of course, I could not see myself
but felt sure that I was pretty good. I was all ready but when
the camera man flashed a light bulb I did not expect it and I guess my
face slipped a little."

A study of the history of spirit photography shows that many spirit
photographs were supposedly debunked because the photographs resembled
portraits of the person when alive, including the clothing worn in the
photographs. It was assumed that the photographer somehow managed to
obtain a portrait of the person. The possibility that the spirits
were using their old portraits to remember what they looked like,
focusing on the same clothes worn in the portrait, seems not to have
been grasped by the debunkers.

The spirit communicating with Father Johannes Greber, a Catholic priest
in Germany, during the 1920s, said that "if a disembodied spirit wants
to appear to terrestrial eyes in such a guise that it will be taken for
its terrestrial being, it must clothes its spirit-form and all the
members thereof with a shell of matter, which it produces by means of
the condensation of terrestrial od (ectoplasm). The spirit went
on to say that a complete materialization requires so much od that no
one medium is capable of supplying it. "In such cases, therefore,
part of the substance of the medium's corporeal body must be dissolved
and used for materializing the spirit. For this reason, in
materializations of this nature, a medium surrenders a great part of
his physical weight, which is restored to him in full when the
materialization has come to an end." Experiments
conducted by Dr. William J. Crawford in Ireland around 1915 fully
confirmed the loss of weight with the medium. This also
explains why so many materializations are of just arms or hands or
faces.

A sitter at one of the séances of D. D. Home, the renowned
medium of yesteryear, asked Home's spirit control how spirits make
themselves visible. "At times we make passes (augment the field
of energy) over the individual to cause him to see us; sometimes we
make the actual resemblance of our former clothing appear exactly as we
were known to you on earth," came the reply. "Sometimes we
project an image that you see; sometimes you see us as we are with a
cloudlike aura of light around us.

After dying in the Titanic disaster of 1912, William T. Stead
(mentioned above) began communicating through several mediums. He
explained that there were souls on his side who had the power of
sensing people (mediums) who could be used for communication. One
such soul helped him find mediums and showed him how to make his
presence known. It was explained to him that he had to visualize
himself among the people in the flesh and imagine that he was standing
there in the flesh with a strong light thrown upon himself. "Hold
the visualization very deliberately and in detail, and keep it fixed
upon my mind, that at that moment I was there and they were conscious
of it," Stead explained the process.

Stead added that the people at one sitting were able to see only his
face because he had seen himself as only a face. "I imagined the
part they would recognize me by." It was in the same way he
was able to get a message through. He stood by the medium,
concentrated his mind on a short sentence, and repeated it with much
emphasis and deliberation until he could hear part of it spoken through
the medium.

Father Junipero Serra, the early California missionary, is said to have
communicated through the medium Violet Parent of Los Angeles during the
early 1900s. At one sitting, Mrs. Parent asked Father Serra if
she could photograph him with her cheap box camera. He
consented. Father Serra apparently decided to pose with his
mother. The photo shows his mother as about half his height, or
perhaps three-feet tall. One's first reaction is to dismiss it as
a fake, but applying the thought-image explanation to the photo one
came make sense out of it. That is, Father Serra simply projected
an image of himself and his mother, fully dressed, of course, as he
remembered her, and he saw himself as much taller than his mother.
Moreover, his head is much too small relative to his body. This
may be due to the fact that Serra could more easily visualize his
garments than his face. While the photo resembled the
only known painting of Father Serra, there were
differences. Since Father Serra lived before photography
and probably didn't have many mirrors around the mission, one wonders
if he really knew what he looked like. Perhaps a reflection in
the nearest stream gave him his only image of himself.

Many spirit communicators have stated that spirits tend to move from
traditional clothing in the lower realms to robes and gown in the
higher realms. After transitioning to the spirit world, Monsignor
Robert Hugh Benson began communicating through the hand of Anthony
Borgia. He told of being able to visit one of the higher realms.
"I observed that most of the people waiting in the gardens were not
habited in their earth clothes," he communicated, "and I assumed that
most of them had been in spirit for some considerable time. Such
was not necessarily the case, Edwin (their guide) told us. They had the
right to wear their spirit robes by virtue of the fact that they were
inhabitants of this realm we were now in. And the robes they wore
were eminently suited to both the place and the situation. It is
difficult to describe this costume because so much rests in being able
to give some comparison with a particular earthly fabric.
Here we have no such materials, but by the kind and degree of light
that is the essence of the spirit robe. Those that we now saw were in
‘flowing' form and of full length, and the colours - blue and pink in
varying degrees of intensity - seemed to interweave themselves
throughout the whole substance of the robes."

Benson went on to say that he and the two other visitors accompanying
him were still in their earthly style of raiment. Edwin suggested
that they might change the natural element in the matter of clothes,
but Benson and the others wondered how they were to make the change.

"What did take place was very simply this," Benson continued to
communicate. "Immediately I had expressed the wish to follow
Edwin's suggestion of discarding my earthly style of clothes, those
very clothes faded away - dissolved - and I was attired in my own
particular spirit robe - of the same description as those I could see
about me." However, Benson noted that his robe did not have the
same brightness or color as Edwin's robe, apparently due to the fact
that Edwin was more advanced than he was.

-
A NEW SENSE OF THINGS DEPARTMENT -Human Skin Capable of Seeing
Colors and Shapes

Feeling blue? Well, the saying may be more than just a metaphor, at
least that's what a researcher at Tel Aviv University says.

The researcher claims that humans might be able to 'see' colours and
shapes with their skin.

Engineering professor Leonid Yaroslavsky hopes that his optic-less
imaging model could lead to a new form of optical imaging technology
that beats the limitations of today's lens-based imaging devices.

His model may also explain how this controversial primordial instinct,
which is observable in some plants and animals, might have evolved over
millions of years.

"Some people have claimed that they possess the ability to see with
their skin," said Yaroslavsky.

Though biologists usually dismiss the possibility, there is probably a
reasonable scientific explanation for 'skin vision.'

He believes that once understood, skin vision could lead to new
therapies for helping the blind regain sight and even read.

Yaroslavsky has explained that skin vision in humans is likely a
natural atavistic ability involving light-sensitive cells in our skin
connected to neuro-machinery in the body and in the brain.

Yaroslavsky is motivated by science and the design of new smart imaging
devices, in which optics are replaced by computers.

He is currently developing imaging simulation theories using computer
software, theories which may lead to future devices with practical
applications.

He said that such devices would have distinct advantages over
conventional optics-based imaging.

Applications could include special sensors for detecting radiation at
sea and in airports to detect terrorist threats, new night-vision
devices, or near-weightless mechanisms to steer spaceships to stars
beyond our own galaxy.

Traditional imaging lenses only work within a limited range of
electromagnetic radiation. They are still very costly, limited by
weight and field of view.

Yaroslavsky said that requiring no lenses, optics-less imaging devices
could be adapted to any kind of radiation and any wavelength.

They could essentially work with a "bionic" 360-degree field of view
and their imaging capability determined by computer power rather than
the laws of light diffraction.

However, before real-world applications can be developed, Yaroslavsky
hopes to convince biologists to take a leap of faith and delve deeper
into the mechanisms of optics-less vision. He believes that their input
could propel imaging research to the next level.

Yaroslavsky presents his theories on the subject in a chapter of a new
book titled "Advances in Information Optics and Photonics."

In 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue and lookouts were aloft to
search uncharted waters, creatures began to appear that could only have
roots in mythology, superstition, and embellishing beliefs that stemmed
from ancient mariners as they explored distant shores.

After Columbus sighted land and discovered the new world, he reported
three mermaids were sighted on Jan. 4, 1493. “Mermaids rose high out of
the sea,” he recorded, “But were not as beautiful as they are
represented.”

On June 15, 1608, English captain and navigator Henry Hudson was
searching the Arctic Circle for a new route to Asia when he wrote the
following entry in his ship’s log.

“This morning, one of our companie looking overboard saw a mermaid, and
calling up some of the companie to see her, one more came up, and by
that time she was close to the ship’s side, looking earnestly upon the
men: a little after, a Sea came and overturned her: From the Navill
upward, her backe and breasts were like a woman’s... her body as big as
one of us; her skin very white; and long haire hanging down behinde, of
colour blacke; in her going down they saw her tayle, which was like the
tayle of a Porposse, and speckled like a Macrell.”

During the 1860s Victorian biologist P.H. Grosse proclaimed that with
all the experience of Henry Hudson and his veteran crews, there could
be no mistaking a walrus or seal for a mermaid and therefore announced
there very well might be a previously undiscovered and new zoological
species.

In the new millennium, and in the present day, we of course believe
that mermaids are fictitious creatures of salty and fertile
imaginations... or are they?

When Juan Ponce de Leon discovered the Dry Tortugas in 1513 and later
cruised northward into the Ten Thousand Islands and discovered Marco
and the Calusa Indians, could he and his crew have sighted a manatee on
a moonlit night and believed they saw a mermaid?

With the warm and shallow waters between Fort Myers and Key West a
perfect home for manatees, can there be any wonder that the mermen and
mermaids of yesteryear might have been reported in our own coastal
backyard?

Even today, manatees are linked to the legend of mermaids with the
official animal-order name of Sirenia. The song of the siren has been
recorded throughout history and even reaches into the heartland of
Germany. Near Coblenz where the Rhine river flows through
vineyard-covered mountains and castles guard every bend in the
watercourse, the Lorelei rock awaits where a centuries-old legend tells
the tale of an enchantress who sings a song so sweet she lures river
sailors into destruction at the base of the well-known cliffs.

Mentally armed with the folklore and fables of old Europe, the
storm-seasoned sailors arriving in the new world were instantly ready
to explain away any phenomenon that might have made an appearance.
Manatees sighted in daylight hours were repeatedly regarded as mermen;
they were muddy, heavy creatures with bristles and whiskers, and a face
that only a mother could love. With a moonlit night however, and a
lonely sailor on anchor watch, the Florida manatee might have come
calling, and left an impression, a story, and a legend of a beautiful
mermaid that came out only after nightfall and only during a full moon.

Webster’s dictionary defines the siren as one of three sea nymphs, said
to frequent an island near the coast of Italy and to sing with such a
sweetness that lured mariners to destruction.

One of the most compelling and unforgettable accounts of mermaid legacy
comes from an old story originating in the Outer Hebrides on the island
of Benbecula. In 1870, after a severe ocean storm, seaweed cutters on
the shore were attracted to a splashing in the nearby waters and found
a small mermaid playing in the surf. Several townsfolk tried to capture
her but she swam too fast to be ensnared in a net. Just before she
submerged for the final time, the town bully threw a rock and hit her
on the back of the head. The following day her body washed up and upon
close inspection, everyone agreed this was a true mermaid. She had the
body of a child with well-developed breasts but below the waist she had
scales and a tail like a fish. By order of the town officials she was
given a Christian burial as she was considered too human not to.

As sailors have forever been attracted to anomalies in the water, and
as any unusual and exotic creatures are always alluring, there can be
little doubt that the shallow water habits of our own Florida manatees
could tempt mariners onto treacherous sandbars and coral reefs.
Whenever the old mariners ran aground and found destruction in a storm,
can the mermaids of old have been held to blame?

On almost any occasion, children will ask the most direct and amazing
questions, and on rare occasions, parents will have equally incredible
answers.

“They’re as real as you want them to be,” her mother replied with a
soft London accent.

“But mommy, I want them to be real,” Mia insisted.

“The next time we stroll on the beach,” Mommy suggested, “We’ll look
for their toenails. Mermaids’ toenails can sometimes be found at the
water’s edge.”

“But that’s silly mommy,” Mia was not to be hoodwinked. “Mermaids don’t
have toenails. They don’t have feet. They only have a tail like a fish.”

“Oh, but that’s what’s special,” Mommy smiled knowingly. “Mermaids
don’t start out as mermaids they start out as little girls, but only
little girls that have pink toenail varnish.”

“But mommy,” Mia protested, “I have pink toenail varnish! Can I turn
into a mermaid?”

“That can only happen, when little girls with pink toenails stay in the
water too long and love the sea too much. When that happens their feet
and legs turn into a fish tail and their pink toenails come off and
wash up on the beach.”

“Look,” Mommy insisted as she opened her purse, “I found one this
morning!”

“Is that really a mermaid toenail?” Mia asked in awe as she gazed at
the bright pink seashell in her mother’s hand.

“It is if you want it to be, besides, where would mermaids live if not
around Marco Island?”